IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bol/bodewp/702.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Investments in education and welfare in a two-sector, random matching economy

Author

Listed:
  • C. Mendolicchio
  • D. Paolini
  • T. Pietra

Abstract

We consider a random matching model where heterogeneous agents choose optimally to invest time and real resources in education. Generically, there is a steady state equilibrium, where some agents, but not all of them, invest. Regular steady state equilibria are constrained inefficient in a strong sense. The Hosios (1990) condition is neither necessary, nor sufficient, for constrained efficiency. We also provide restrictions on the fundamentals sufficient to guarantee that equilibria are characterized by overeducation (or undereducation), present some results on their comparative statics properties, and discuss the nature of welfare improving policies.

Suggested Citation

  • C. Mendolicchio & D. Paolini & T. Pietra, 2010. "Investments in education and welfare in a two-sector, random matching economy," Working Papers 702, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    • Handle: RePEc:bol:bodewp:702
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://amsacta.unibo.it/4539/1/702.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pierre Cahuc & Fabien Postel-Vinay & Jean-Marc Robin, 2006. "Wage Bargaining with On-the-Job Search: Theory and Evidence," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(2), pages 323-364, March.
    2. Judd, Kenneth L., 1985. "The law of large numbers with a continuum of IID random variables," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 19-25, February.
    3. Christopher A. Pissarides & Barbara Petrongolo, 2001. "Looking into the Black Box: A Survey of the Matching Function," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(2), pages 390-431, June.
    4. Charlot, Olivier & Decreuse, Bruno & Granier, Pierre, 2005. "Adaptability, productivity, and educational incentives in a matching model," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 1007-1032, May.
    5. Alos-Ferrer, Carlos, 1999. "Dynamical Systems with a Continuum of Randomly Matched Agents," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 245-267, June.
    6. Cunha, Flavio & Heckman, James J., 2007. "Identifying and Estimating the Distributions of Ex Post and Ex Ante Returns to Schooling," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(6), pages 870-893, December.
    7. Laing, Derek & Palivos, Theodore & Wang, Ping, 1995. "R&D in a Model of Search and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(2), pages 291-295, May.
    8. Konrad Podczeck & Daniela Puzzello, 2012. "Independent random matching," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 50(1), pages 1-29, May.
    9. Charlot, Olivier & Decreuse, Bruno, 2005. "Self-selection in education with matching frictions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 251-267, April.
    10. Geanakoplos, J. & Polemarchakis, H., 1985. "Existence,regularity, and constrained suboptimality of competitive allocations when the asset market is incomplete," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 1985037, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    11. Kenneth Burdett & Carlos Carrillo‐Tudela & Melvyn G. Coles, 2011. "Human Capital Accumulation And Labor Market Equilibrium," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 52(3), pages 657-677, August.
    12. Flavio Cunha & James Heckman & Salvador Navarro, 2005. "Separating uncertainty from heterogeneity in life cycle earnings," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 57(2), pages 191-261, April.
    13. Charlot, Olivier & Decreuse, Bruno, 2010. "Over-education for the rich, under-education for the poor: A search-theoretic microfoundation," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 886-896, December.
    14. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/dc0ckec3fcb29ms9850c12h1p is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Konrad Podczeck, 2010. "On existence of rich Fubini extensions," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 45(1), pages 1-22, October.
    16. Sun, Yeneng, 2006. "The exact law of large numbers via Fubini extension and characterization of insurable risks," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 126(1), pages 31-69, January.
    17. Yashiv, Eran, 2006. "Evaluating the performance of the search and matching model," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 909-936, May.
    18. Christopher A. Pissarides, 2000. "Equilibrium Unemployment Theory, 2nd Edition," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262161877, April.
    19. Derek Laing & Theodore Palivos & Ping Wang, 1995. "Learning, Matching and Growth," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 62(1), pages 115-129.
    20. Al-Najjar, Nabil I., 2004. "Aggregation and the law of large numbers in large economies," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 1-35, April.
    21. C. Mendolicchio & D. Paolini & T. Pietra, 2008. "Human Capital Policies in a Static, Two-Sector Economy with Imperfect Markets," Working Paper CRENoS 200807, Centre for North South Economic Research, University of Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia.
    22. Robert Shimer, 2006. "On-the-Job Search and Strategic Bargaining," Contributions to Economic Analysis, in: Structural Models of Wage and Employment Dynamics, pages 37-59, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    23. Booth, Alison L. & Coles, Melvyn, 2007. "A microfoundation for increasing returns in human capital accumulation and the under-participation trap," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(7), pages 1661-1681, October.
    24. Burdett, Ken & Smith, Eric, 2002. "The low skill trap," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(8), pages 1439-1451, September.
    25. A. D. Roy, 1951. "Some Thoughts On The Distribution Of Earnings," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 3(2), pages 135-146.
    26. Sun, Yeneng & Zhang, Yongchao, 2009. "Individual risk and Lebesgue extension without aggregate uncertainty," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 144(1), pages 432-443, January.
    27. Robert Shimer, 2005. "The Assignment of Workers to Jobs in an Economy with Coordination Frictions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(5), pages 996-1025, October.
    28. Arthur J. Hosios, 1990. "On The Efficiency of Matching and Related Models of Search and Unemployment," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 57(2), pages 279-298.
    29. Feldman, Mark & Gilles, Christian, 1985. "An expository note on individual risk without aggregate uncertainty," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 26-32, February.
    30. Giorgio Brunello & Margherita Fort & Guglielmo Weber, 2009. "Changes in Compulsory Schooling, Education and the Distribution of Wages in Europe," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(536), pages 516-539, March.
    31. Daron Acemoglu, 1996. "A Microfoundation for Social Increasing Returns in Human Capital Accumulation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(3), pages 779-804.
    32. Sattinger, Michael, 1993. "Assignment Models of the Distribution of Earnings," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 31(2), pages 831-880, June.
    33. Angel de la Fuente & Antonio Ciccone, 2003. "Human capital in a global and knowledge-based economy," UFAE and IAE Working Papers 562.03, Unitat de Fonaments de l'Anàlisi Econòmica (UAB) and Institut d'Anàlisi Econòmica (CSIC).
    34. Allen, Beth, 1985. "The existence of rational expectations equilibria in a large economy with noisy price observations," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 67-103, February.
    35. Michael Sattinger, 2003. "A Search Version of the Roy Model," Discussion Papers 03-08, University at Albany, SUNY, Department of Economics.
    36. Angel de la Fuente, 2003. "Human Capital in a global and knowledge-based economy, part II: assessment at the EU country level," Working Papers 98, Barcelona School of Economics.
    37. Booth, Alison L. & Coles, Melvyn, 2005. "Increasing Returns to Education and the Skills Under-Investment Trap," IZA Discussion Papers 1657, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    38. Yoram Ben-Porath, 1967. "The Production of Human Capital and the Life Cycle of Earnings," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 75(4), pages 352-352.
    39. Alison Booth & Melvyn Coles & Xiaodong Gong, 2006. "Increasing Returns to Education: Theory and Evidence," CEPR Discussion Papers 522, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    40. repec:bla:econom:v:45:y:1978:i:179:p:235-50 is not listed on IDEAS
    41. Alos-Ferrer, C., 1998. "Individual Randomness in Economic Models with a Continuum Agents," Papers 9807, Washington St. Louis - School of Business and Political Economy.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Heyer, Gerd & Koch, Susanne & Stephan, Gesine & Wolff, Joachim, 2012. "Evaluation der aktiven Arbeitsmarktpolitik: Ein Sachstandsbericht für die Instrumentenreform 2011 (Evaluation of active labor market programs : a summary of recent results for the German program refor," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 45(1), pages 41-62.
    2. Mendolicchio, Concetta & Pietra, Tito, 2014. "On the efficiency properties of the Roy's model under asymmetric information," IAB-Discussion Paper 201408, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    3. Zabel, Cordula, 2011. "Lone mothers' participation in labor market programs for means-tested benefit recipients in Germany," IAB-Discussion Paper 201114, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    4. Björn Nilsson, 2019. "The School-to-Work Transition in Developing Countries," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(5), pages 745-764, May.
    5. Concetta Mendolicchio & Dimitri Paolini & Tito Pietra, 2014. "Income Taxes, Subsidies to Education, and Investments in Human Capital," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 16(1), pages 24-47, February.
    6. Drasch, Katrin, 2011. "Do changing institutional settings matter? : educational attainment and family related employment interruptions in Germany," IAB-Discussion Paper 201113, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    7. Zapfel, Stefan & Promberger, Markus, 2011. "Gemeinschaft, Gesellschaft und soziale Sicherung : Überlegungen zu Genese und Wandel des modernen Wohlfahrtsstaats," IAB-Discussion Paper 201121, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    8. Engelmann, Sabine, 2011. "Trade liberalisation, technical change and skill-specific unemployment," IAB-Discussion Paper 201119, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    9. Osiander, Christopher & Steinke, Joß, 2011. "Street-level bureaucrats in der Arbeitsverwaltung : Dienstleistungsprozesse und reformierte Arbeitsvermittlung aus Sicht der Vermittler," IAB-Discussion Paper 201115, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Charlot, Olivier & Malherbet, Franck, 2013. "Education and employment protection," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 3-23.
    2. Jonas Hedlund & Carlos Oyarzun, 2018. "Imitation in heterogeneous populations," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 65(4), pages 937-973, June.
    3. Esfahanian , Homa, 2015. "Productivity Investment and Labor Force Participation in Search Equilibrium," Journal of Money and Economy, Monetary and Banking Research Institute, Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran, vol. 10(1), pages 23-63, January.
    4. Concetta Mendolicchio & Dimitri Paolini & Tito Pietra, 2014. "Income Taxes, Subsidies to Education, and Investments in Human Capital," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 16(1), pages 24-47, February.
    5. Charlot, Olivier & Decreuse, Bruno, 2010. "Over-education for the rich, under-education for the poor: A search-theoretic microfoundation," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 886-896, December.
    6. Christopher Flinn & Joseph Mullins, 2015. "Labor Market Search And Schooling Investment," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 56(2), pages 359-398, May.
    7. Charlot, Olivier & Malherbet, Franck, 2010. "Education and the Welfare Gains from Employment Protection," IZA Discussion Papers 4799, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Olivier Charlot, 2006. "Éducation, destruction des emplois et performance du marché du travail dans un modèle d'appariement," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 57(1), pages 5-33.
    9. Darong Dai & Guoqiang Tian, 2020. "On the Efficiency of Wage-Setting Mechanisms with Search Frictions and Human Capital Investment," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 21(1), pages 1-40, May.
    10. Andrew Shephard & Modibo Sidibe, 2019. "Schooling Investment, Mismatch,and Wage Inequality," PIER Working Paper Archive 19-013, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania.
    11. Duffie, Darrell & Qiao, Lei & Sun, Yeneng, 2018. "Dynamic directed random matching," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 124-183.
    12. Jackson, Paul, 2023. "Equilibrium underemployment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    13. Guillaume Wilemme, 2021. "Optimal Taxation to Correct Job Mismatching," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 40, pages 170-197, April.
    14. Mukoyama, Toshihiko & Sahin, Aysegül, 2009. "Specialization and efficiency with labor-market matching," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 221-236, January.
    15. Duffie, Darrell & Sun, Yeneng, 2012. "The exact law of large numbers for independent random matching," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 147(3), pages 1105-1139.
    16. Thérèse REBIÈRE & Frédéric GAVREL & Isabelle LEBON, 2009. "Formal Education Versus Learning-by-doing," EcoMod2009 21500078, EcoMod.
    17. Yashiv, Eran, 2007. "Labor search and matching in macroeconomics," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(8), pages 1859-1895, November.
    18. Xiangbo Liu & Theodore Palivos & Xiaomeng Zhang, 2017. "Immigration, Skill Heterogeneity, And Qualification Mismatch," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 55(3), pages 1231-1264, July.
    19. Christopher Flinn & Ahu Gemici & Steven Laufer, 2017. "Search, Matching, and Training," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 25, pages 260-297, April.
    20. l'Haridon, Olivier & Malherbet, Franck & Pérez-Duarte, Sébastien, 2013. "Does bargaining matter in the small firms matching model?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 42-58.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bol:bodewp:702. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sebolit.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.